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My little interview with Tim Flannery

Professor Tim Flannery is an amazing man and has done amazing things. He is a scientist, explorer, and author and as I found out when I met him he has got a great sense of humour. Professor Flannery is someone I admire and look up to so to meet him was really special. I just wish I could spend more time with him to talk "enviro" talk!

On Thursday the 24th of March Professor Tim Flannery gave a talk at the museum about his work, about museums and the difficulty they sometimes have getting funding and this may be a bigger issue now we have a new state government and how museums can improve their access to the general public.

Professor Flannery is a very busy man but I was able to get him to sign three of his books I have and then ask him some questions. My main motivation for educating other young people about the environment is that I do not think enough is being done and want young people to know what the facts are and what they can do every day to help so I was interested to hear Professor Flannery say the similar thing.

These are the questions I asked and the answers he gave:

Tim you are described as a scientist, explorer and author, what role do like best? And why?

Oh my goodness, umm I really like writing because it’s my quiet time where I can just sit and think and order my thoughts.

What was the reason that made you start to speak up about the environmental issues facing the planet?

I just thought we weren’t taking things seriously enough and a lot of people didn’t really understand what was at stake.

As I am part of the next generation to inherit the planet and some serious issues can you describe what the future will be like environmentally?

No-one can know the future, we can only project some of the trends that might happen, some of the things that might happen but really the shape of our future is going to be in our own hands, it depends on how we treat the earth.

I spend a lot of time talking at schools and running workshops to educate young people of the environment and trying to bring about long term behavioural change as a leader in environmental issues what message would like me to take back to students about the environment?

Leadership, they have got to show leadership even though you are young.

Professor Tim Flannery has been selected to lead the new Climate Change Commission whose roll will be to provide expert information on climate change to communities across Australia.

Mr Greg Combet the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency said this about the new Climate Change Commission:

"The Climate Commission has been established by the Gillard Government to provide an authoritative, independent source of information for all Australians," he said. "It will provide expert advice on climate change science and impacts, and international action. It will help build the consensus required to move to a clean energy future."
The Climate Commission would have a public outreach role, he said, to help build greater understanding and consensus about reducing Australia’s carbon pollution.

Here is a link to a great explanation about the new Climate Change Commission that Professor Flannery will lead. http://bit.ly/i5RAsI

I love the idea of this commission because it is about educating the general public with facts about how our climate is changing. The public have an opportunity to ask the experts their questions directly and I think this is really important as there is a lot of misinformation out in the community.

I watched the first meeting the Commission had in Geelong on Friday the 25th and I enjoyed it because all members of the committee there that day answered a huge range of questions and I understood most of their answers. Professor Will Steffen said we have already reached 1.2 degrees above preindustrial times but Professor Leslie Hughes said she does not like to think about what will happen if we reach 4 degrees. I look forward to the next meeting.